Of Flour, Love and Blueberries
by ThePrincessTigerLily
Summary: Emma finds herself stuck in the rain with a certain stormbringer...EmmaTancred


Well, I've decided to expand my fan fiction horizons and was rereading Charlie Bone and Voila!

A note- this story is somewhat compatible with "The Beast," but doesn't exactly follow the plotline-

Disclaimer: I do not own the Charlie Bone series, that right belongs solely to the fabulously talented Jenny Nimmo. 

* * *

Tucking her wet hair into the collar of her coat, Emma Tolly tried unsuccessfully to open the door to Ingledew's bookshop. It had been raining for the past few weeks, a steady merciless downpour that somehow managed to leak into all the crevices of one's coat. Her own coat was sopping wet, as were her boots, trousers and the grocery bag she had clutched under her arm. 

She'd decided to venture out earlier in the afternoon to buy some much needed groceries. Mostly she and Aunt Julia didn't pay attention to what they ate, but every once in awhile, her aunt would go crazy and whip up some sort of spectacular dish. Earlier, she'd had a yen to make blueberry scones, but when they looked in the cupboards, they'd discovered they had neither blueberries nor flour. Emma, being the dutiful niece she was, had offered to run to the store and pick them up. However, it seemed that Aunt Julia had already forgotten about the scones since the lights in the store were off and the door was locked.

_Probably went to lunch with Charlie's Uncle_, Emma reflected. As much as she liked Paton Yewbeam, it always seemed like he was whisking her aunt off. Emma just wished that her aunt would remember that she did have a niece…a niece who wasn't happy to be fumbling for a key in the pouring rain. She carefully shifted the bag and attempted to reach into her pocket for the key. When her fingers came up empty, she tried the other pocket. No luck there either. Too late, she remembered she'd left her keys sitting on top of Love Among the Walnuts, which was in her bedroom. Utterly frustrated at the universe in general and Aunt Julia in particular, Emma adjusted the bag again and decided she'd just walk to the Pet's Café where she could wait until the rain slowed, or until Aunt Julia came home. However, as she adjusted the bag, she lost her grip and the groceries went plummeting towards the wet sidewalk.

Before she could react, the blueberries were rolling merrily down the street and the flour had hit the ground with a dull thud, the contents wafting up into the air and covering Emma in a cloud of white. A cloud of white that turned fast into a gluey mixture that stuck to her clothes and ran rather unattractively down her face. As she wiped her face with a soggy sleeve, she caught sight of a sight of a figure across the street, staring at her intently. Even before the sky rumbled, she knew who it was. Of all the people to run into when she was soaking wet, covered with flour and locked out, it had to be Tancred Torsson.

For a moment, it seemed as though he was just going to stand there and watch her scramble for the blueberries, but then he seemed to change his mind and began to make his way across the street, the rain softening and blurring his movements as he bent to pick up a few berries that had escaped into the street. He looked up, and their eyes connected. He stood slowly, still holding her eyes and walked forward until they were face to face.

"You know you can't just end a friendship like that," he said

* * *

Tancred Torsson had always had a bit of a fascination with Emma Tolly. Even before she'd come out of her trance, he would watch her when she did her homework in the King's Room. Her pale hair would fall over her face and she would look so utterly concentrated that he would sometimes spend the entire time wondering what she was thinking about. After the trance was broken, he'd been pleased to discover that Emma was just as likable as he imagined. She had gentleness about her and a surprisingly witty sense of humour. 

As the terms progressed, they'd become better friends, spending time together even outside class. Since they were both art students, they would hang out at parks or the Pets Café. They wouldn't even talk that much. They'd just spend the time drawing things around them. Emma was always easy to be around. Tancred felt as though he could tell her anything and she'd understand.

Then he'd met Tracy Morsell. From the minute he'd met her, he was smitten. She sat in front of him in one of his classes and he would stare at her impossibly straight, silky hair and would imagine conversations with her in which he was always incredibly charming and clever. He was stunned when she agreed to go out with him. She seemed like the perfect catch. She was drop-dead gorgeous and laughed at all his jokes. He didn't really notice when he began spending more and more time with Tracy and less with the rest of his friends. At the beginning, when he ran into Emma in the halls, he would give her a smile or a wave, but then Tracy started walking with him, which prevented him from striking up a conversation. Eventually, Emma stopped even smiling at him and would walk by like he was a total stranger.

During the first few days of this treatment, Tancred tried to find an opportunity to find Emma and explain, but there was never a chance. They were both busy, and whenever he had a chance to talk to her, it always seemed like Tracy was there.

He wasn't sure how long their friendship would've stayed in limbo if it hadn't been for a Saturday afternoon three weeks before. He and Tracy had decided to spend some time together and were taking a walk in town. As the passed Ingledew's bookstore, he noticed Emma curled up in one of the chairs reading a large book.

"Hey Tracy, let's go in," he'd suggested. Tracy, after sighing and rolling her eyes, agreed. When they walked in, Emma's eyes lit up and she jumped up from her chair. However, before she could say anything, Tracy had smiled and said "You're Emma Tolly, right?"

"Yes," Emma replied, and seemed about to say something else but Tracy jumped in again.

"You're that girl who was all freakish when you were first at Bloors! I was talking to Candy and she said that she totally thought you were like, mentally challenged or something. Do you actually live here, or do you just hang out here, because bookstores really aren't cool places to hang out. I always hang out at my friends' houses, but maybe you don't have any of those, in which case bookstores are really nice…"

As Tracy continued to babble, Tancred could see Emma visibly stiffen. Finally, she cut Tracy off and said coldly, "Feel free to look around. I actually remembered something I'm supposed to be doing now." With that she marched out the door, slamming it behind her.

"What's her problem?" Tracy asked. Tancred shot her glance and then followed Emma out the door. For a minute, he had no idea where she could be, but then he remembered her saying that whenever she needed to be alone, she'd go to the park. She said she could think better in nature. He crossed the street and ran the short distance to the park. He found Emma, sitting on a bench near the entrance. She'd left without her coat, and she sat hugging her arms around herself for warmth. Her pale hair obscured her face, and she looked entirely miserable. Tancred sat down next to her and said "Why'd you run off like that?"

He expected an explanation, and was caught off guard when Emma's eyes met his and instead of looking sad or upset, she looked angry.

"Thanks for defending me to your girlfriend," Emma said, crossing her arms defensively across her chest.

"Emma…I…" Tancred started to protest when she interrupted.

"Why do you like her?"

"Tracy?"

"Of course Tracy," Emma said, scooting away from him and standing up.

Tancred considered. Why did he like Tracy? "Well, she's…uh, she's pretty, and…she's smart and…what?" Emma had rolled her eyes as soon as he had uttered the "p" word.

"Pretty and smart? Tancred, she's self-centred and mean and gossipy. Just because she'd pretty doesn't automatically make her a good person. I mean, look at Belle!" Tancred was surprised; Emma didn't usually speak with such vehemence or dislike.

"Well, maybe you should get to know her before you start judging her!" He didn't know where this conversation had come from and he had the feeling that he was saying things he didn't exactly mean.

"I don't need to know her to know she's awful!" Emma shouted.

"You don't need to hang around her if you don't like her!" he countered.

"Fine, I won't. And you know what, I don't need to hang around you either! I can't believe I even wasted time thinking about someone as shallow as you! I even deluded myself into thinking you actually liked…oh… nevermind." Before Tancred could say anything, Emma had disappeared and he could see the outline of a thrush making its way toward Ingledew's.

That had been it. Emma refused to speak to him when she saw him, and whenever he came into a room, she always made an excuse to leave. He tried in vain to get her to talk to him, but it seemed that she had simply cut him out of her life with no more pain than snipping a loose thread. He wondered why it had suddenly become so important that she talk to him. At first, he told himself it was because they were friends, but the more he thought, the more he realised that it was more than that. He remembered Emma's parting words. Had she thought they were more than friends? Only a few weeks before, he would've denied it, but now he wasn't sure what he thought. He only knew that he missed having her around and he couldn't get her out of his head.

He also began noticing that Tracy did indeed talk pretty much only about herself, and was gossipy and mean. After a week, he broke up with her. It made him feel a little better, but not much.

When his father complained that it had been raining for three straight weeks, he had to face the fact: he was a wreck. He found himself scouting the halls, looking for Emma's telltale blonde hair. He thought up things that he knew would make her laugh. He even tried writing a poem (it was awful, and Lysander ended up throwing it away after saying "Reading this is about seventy times worse than being stuck in a locked room with Manfred." ).

Tancred took to wandering around town, hoping to run into her. When he saw her standing in front of the bookstore, covered with flour and surrounded by blueberries, he knew this was his chance.

* * *

After meeting Tracy, Emma had gone to her room and sat in front of the mirror for hours, meticulously examining every pore of her skin. She'd always thought that while she wasn't conventionally pretty, she was at least passably good-looking. However, when she thought of Tracy, she thought that she would give anything, even her endowment, to look like her. When Emma looked at herself in the mirror, all she could see was that being blonde was about all they had in common, but Tracy's was a golden shade, while Emma's was more the colour of bleached straw. As much as she hoped, she knew she had to be realistic. Tancred would never _ever_ like her when people like Tracy were around. 

So she'd distanced herself. She figured that if she and Tancred weren't even speaking, there would be little chance that she'd see him and Tracy together, and her heart would have a chance to recover. However, when confronted with the real Tancred, who was looking at her with those electric blue eyes, she couldn't really summon the resolve she needed to tell him to leave.

"I said, you can't just end our friendship like that," he repeated, crossing his arms.

Emma just gaped at him. She'd expected he would demand that she never show her face again or stay away from Tracy. She'd expected him to be angry or distant, but she hadn't thought he'd look so…determined.

"L...like how?" she asked, irritated at herself for stammering.

"I think most people would agree that when someone is accused of behaving badly, he should at least get a chance to defend himself," he said, still seriously holding her eyes.

Emma didn't trust her voice to respond, so she just nodded.

"I broke up with Tracy," he said matter-of-factly. Emma started, and was about to ask why, but he held up his hand.

"Hang on; I have to get this all out. You were right. She's self-centred and awful and I can't believe I wasted time on her. So that's taken care of. But you, Emma Tolly…" his voice suddenly took on a deeper pitch, "You create a different problem." He reached over and brushed a little flour off her face. Emma just stood there, paralyzed. She wasn't quite sure what was happening, but she was afraid to move, in case it was just a dream.

Suddenly, Tancred stepped in close, and before she could react, he had pressed his lips to hers. Almost as quickly, it was over, and he stepped back with a little smile on his face.

"What was that for?" she asked, feeling not only a little breathless, but was aware of a fizzy feeling starting in her stomach.

"I just wanted to see if I was right," Tancred said. At her confused look, he elaborated. "After that fight, I started thinking about what you said. All Tracy had were her looks, and that was really the only reason I liked her. I realised that I basically do all my talking with you. So I started wondering why I was with Tracy. I felt like I was already doing all the talking stuff with you, and I didn't think it was fair to have a girlfriend only for the physical stuff…I mean…that stuff's important too, but I think that when you're in a relationship with someone, it should be about all of it…the talking and the...other stuff. Then when you said that thing about me liking you…Well, I think you were right, only I was just too dumb to realise. So, I was thinking that maybe, if you don't hate me, we could give the whole relationship thing a try."

Given the circumstances, Emma felt there was really only one response. She reached up and pulled his head back down hers, forgetting that she was sticky with flour and they were probably squishing all the blueberries. When they finally pulled apart (due to the extreme need for oxygen), Emma realised that the rain was no longer falling. Tancred glanced up at the sky as well, which was beginning to lighten as the sun peeked out. He turned back to Emma and grinned, saying, "How about we try for a rainbow?"

End.

* * *

Hmmm, rereading this…sorry about the fluff overload. It's raining today, which puts me in a dreamy, romantic type mood…

For the record, I shipped Emma/ Tancred before Jenny Nimmo even set them up as a canon couple… 


End file.
